The Williamsburg-James City County School Board reviewed proposals for adjusting how traffic will enter and exit Lafayette High School if Longhill Road is widened.
Kimley-Horn and Associates Inc. — the design firm contracted to aid in developing the plan to widen Longhill Road — prepared nine proposals for the board regarding the changes to the exiting traffic flow at the high school.
Ellen Cook, a senior planner with the James City County Planning Department, presented the proposals to the board at its meeting Tuesday. The plans use different strategies to accommodate the proposed widening of the road. The changes are necessary, as leftward exiting traffic from the school will likely be limited after the widening project.
Two plans propose constructing new roads to ease the left-turning exiting traffic flow. One would connect the Lafayette parking lot with the neighborhood Seasons Trace, allowing traffic to exit via the intersection of Seasons Trace’s main road and Longhill Road. The other would construct a road to the west of the school, connecting the parking lot with Warhill Sports Complex.
Another plan proposes relocating the main entrance to Seasons Trace to the east, allowing traffic to turn left out of the Lafayette parking lot.
Three plans propose additional driveway construction on the Lafayette campus to adjust the traffic flow. One would establish a single main entrance to the parking lot by relocating the bus loop from the east to the west side of the school, mixing car and bus traffic as it entered the parking lot. Another proposal would construct an additional driveway to the west side of the school, connecting an additional entrance with the back parking lot, but leaving left turns out of the main entrance restricted. The other plan would leave left turns out of the main entrance restricted, but would construct a driveway connecting the parking lot with the bus loop to allow exiting traffic to turn left.
Two other plans would construct roundabouts to change the traffic flow on Longhill Road. One plan would leave left turns out of the main entrance restricted but would construct a roundabout to the west of Lafayette, allowing exiting traffic to make a u-turn. The other would transform the school’s main entrance into a roundabout, allowing both left and right turns out of the school.
The final plan would leave the school’s entrances unchanged, but would install traffic signals at Seasons Trace and Lafayette’s main entrance. Cook said this plan would require an exception from the Virginia Department of Transportation, as the new traffic signals would violate current VDOT regulations on minimum distances between signals.
Both Cook and members of the board noted shortcomings to several of the plans. Cook said the possibility of installing traffic signals as a part of any of the plans, along with potentially restricting left turns out of the school’s parking lot remained unclear.
Board member Joe Fuentes said the plan to connect the parking lot with Seasons Trace did not accommodate the additional amount of traffic on the residential road, and board member Elise Emanuel said students might park in the community, upsetting residents.
Board members also critiqued the other plans. Board President Ruth Larson said roundabouts could be dangerous for teen drivers. Board member Elise Emanuel said additional road construction could cause environmental harm, while Fuentes said that driveway construction on school property could force the issue into a capital improvement for the district.
Widening Longhill Road to four lanes remains a priority for the James City County Board of Supervisors. In May, the supervisors voted to retain the project as a part of the county’s 2015-2020 Secondary Six-Year Plan, which prioritizes road projects in the county.
With work on the project unlikely to start until 2025, Cook said Tuesday’s presentation was a chance for board members to have their thoughts and concerns entered into the public record. Board members agreed the issue should be raised again at subsequent board meetings.
Correction This story has been updated to correct attribution of a quote regarding roundabouts. Board President Ruth Larson said roundabouts could be dangerous for teenaged drivers. An earlier version credited the quote to Board member Joe Fuentes.
Related Coverage:
- JCC Supervisors Keep Widening Projects for Longhill, Croaker Roads on Priority List
- New Plans for Longhill Road Expansion Use Citizen Input
- Citizen Input Used to Design Four-Lane Longhill Road with Roundabouts, Stoplights
- JCC Residents Turn Out to Provide Input on Longhill Road’s Future Look
- JCC Looks to Citizens for Longhill Road Improvement Ideas
- JCC Supes’ Priorities to Include Widening Roads
- JCC Supes to Look at Plan for Secondary Road Projects